Great idea.<\/p>\n
Except I wonder if people will be willing to pay full-price hereafter?<\/p>\n
That’s the problem.\u00c2\u00a0 People will pay a fortune to be up close and personal at a superstar’s show, but once you go back from the stage…<\/p>\n
Actually, I’ve heard that sales this year are kind of funny.\u00c2\u00a0 You can sell the high-priced tickets, and the ones in the back, but the ones in the middle aren’t moving.<\/p>\n
And all those shows being heralded as sold out?\u00c2\u00a0 Even U2 tickets are available.<\/p>\n
Business is bad.\u00c2\u00a0 The mainstream media has not caught on yet, but agents and promoters are singing the blues.\u00c2\u00a0 Seemingly every show in L.A. is offered through Goldstar, and this just has people waiting, for the discount tickets.<\/p>\n
It’s time for a realignment.\u00c2\u00a0 No different than what’s happening in Detroit.\u00c2\u00a0 The concert business has to be rejiggered to comport with today’s economic reality.<\/p>\n
Bottom line…\u00c2\u00a0 Superstars sell tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 Their ducats are a lot less price-sensitive.\u00c2\u00a0 I cannot see why fees are not buried into a final total price.\u00c2\u00a0 If the cost is exorbitant, what difference does it make if the $10+ fee is not broken out separately?\u00c2\u00a0 Do acts really think their fans are going to be pissed at them because tickets are not $137.50, but $150?\u00c2\u00a0 Those damn classic rockers, dinging me for $12.50, I liked it better when I blamed Ticketmaster…\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n
As for the less-desirable shows…<\/p>\n
These fee-less Wednesdays are a start.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no such thing as a cheap ticket anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the fees often DOUBLE the price of the most affordable tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 So now we’ve got bargains.\u00c2\u00a0 But how many people are going to know?\u00c2\u00a0 The problem is concertgoing is no longer a regular ritual for most of the public, it’s something they do at most once a year, which they overpay for.\u00c2\u00a0 To get them to come consistently…they’ve got to be informed of the price and believe they’re not going to be ripped off.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of like buying tires.\u00c2\u00a0 NO ONE believes the advertised price is the price on the car.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually you need tires, but you don’t need to go to the show.\u00c2\u00a0 A final price can only help the concert industry.<\/p>\n
But it’s not Live Nation’s fault.\u00c2\u00a0 And not Ticketmaster’s.\u00c2\u00a0 The acts are responsible.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to look like they’re ripping off their fans.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d rather place the blame on the promoter and ticketing company.\u00c2\u00a0 As if they’re ultimately not all in it together…<\/p>\n
Anyway, if you follow all the reports, cheap seats are not available solely for undesirable acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Lawn tickets will be sold for Blink-182, Coldplay, No Doubt, Nickelback, Toby Keith, the Killers, the Dead, Aerosmith, the Dave Matthews Band…HUNDREDS OF SHOWS!<\/p>\n
What we’ve got here is a softening of desire.\u00c2\u00a0 Which must be addressed.\u00c2\u00a0 Live Nation is making a move.\u00c2\u00a0 I applaud this.<\/p>\n
But when will the rest of the industry get off its pedestal and realize the customer is tapped out?\u00c2\u00a0 That he’s overpaid to see so many of these acts already. That the yearning is just not there.\u00c2\u00a0 That concert tickets are seen as a rip-off?<\/p>\n
Sure, you can no longer make a fortune by selling recorded music, but that does not mean you can just jack up concert tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 If you lose your job you just can’t stop paying sales tax.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s suffering.\u00c2\u00a0 Why should musical acts be immune?<\/p>\n
As for entertainment being recession-proof…\u00c2\u00a0 That’s when entertainment was cheap.\u00c2\u00a0 When you can go to the concert for fifteen bucks, attendance will be through the roof.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s what we need, people GOING!\u00c2\u00a0 However good American cars are now, after decades of being trumped by the Japanese, with consumers satisfied with their Asian purchases, it’s almost impossible to get the public to go American once again.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s heading this way in the concert business.\u00c2\u00a0 Years ago, you went to the show every month or so, sometimes even more frequently.\u00c2\u00a0 Now you overpay for a ticket almost a year in advance. Attending a concert is like going to a wedding, or going on vacation.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ll fit it into your schedule, but it’s a rare event.\u00c2\u00a0 Go to the show on a whim?<\/p>\n
That’s what Live Nation is trying to do here.\u00c2\u00a0 Get an impulse buy.\u00c2\u00a0 Get people out to have a good time.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re not building new superstars.\u00c2\u00a0 As stated previously, it’s hard to live on recorded music revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless the audience is enticed to come, to see the band, to buy merch and spread the word, it’s going to be hard to break an act.<\/p>\n
Remember when you got to the show early, to see the opening band, to get turned on to something?<\/p>\n
That’s the best place for an act to make its mark.\u00c2\u00a0 Live.\u00c2\u00a0 But you’ve got to be great and there have to be people in the building.<\/p>\n
Everybody’s got to realign.\u00c2\u00a0 Acts can force managers to force agents to rip off promoters, but they CAN’T force people to go to the show.\u00c2\u00a0 How are we going to get people to come?\u00c2\u00a0 Price is a good start.\u00c2\u00a0 Experience is important once they’re through the gate.\u00c2\u00a0 And the show must be great.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a perfunctory, by the numbers rendition.<\/p>\n
We’re starting over.<\/p>\n
Ever since the days of the Fillmore it’s been believed that the tickets just go on sale and people come.\u00c2\u00a0 But that was when music drove the culture, when the acts were tied in with the fans as opposed to corporations, when the music MATTERED!\u00c2\u00a0 All those elements are going to have to return for the concert industry to be healthy once again.<\/p>\n
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